See, all of these years I’ve been preparing for the arrival of Zane by reviewing toys he might like.

Zane wasn’t quite sure what to think of the Hoberman Sphere. It goes from smaller than a basketball to three feet in diameter in seconds and even with his limited experience he seemed to be wondering if that’s natural. Juggling balls he likes and he seems to enjoy watching me juggle. Like most kids he gets to a point where he wants to reach in and grab them and is surprised when they don’t continue spiraling through the air on their own.

Lately he’s been showing more interest in books and not just as colored rectangles with chewing potential. One of his favorites is a little square book with blocky pages that teaches colors. I’ve been putting it in his crib at night and rather than rocking to sleep he now winds down by flipping through the book. The pages are almost a quarter inch thick, making it easy for him to turn. He’s very intent in his study of the book, so much so that I can sneak out of the room. It’s a great tradition to start.

I’m watching Zane’s webcam from work this morning and around eight he woke up, crawled to the end of his crib, got up on his knees and turned on his musical-aquarium, and then crawled to another part of the crib to play with the interactive elephant while listening to the “music.” Mark that down as “baby entertains self instead of waking mommy” milestone.

9 May 08 • Dad

This boy is beginning to look more like baby Jerry did. The round head and blue eyes do the trick.